The Eighth Room
by Enter the Harlequin
Summary: Ed died. It's simple, irrevocable... right? 4 months before, They found Ed's coat covered in blood, no body. He's 'Officially' dead, according to the military. But Al knows better, as does Ed. Pride!EdxEnvy Pride!Edx Al-onesided UP FOR ADOPTION
1. My Perfect Son

**Alright. This is my first Pride!Ed fiction. I realize most of these are based soley off of BBI's distinction, but i haven't played it or watched summaries yet. This Pride!Ed is based soley on the idea of Ed's death, return, and him turning on his brother. Rest assured this fic will contain Angst and Violence, as well as graphic adult scenes. If you are squeemish, please! Do not read this.  
The Title to this story is an allusion to "The Marque of the Red Death" By Edgar Allan Poe. There are eight rooms. Seven represent the seven sins, whilst the last represents death. At the end of the story, Red Death and the prince end up in the last room, where they fight, and death ends up winning. If you've never read the story, it's amazing and i reccomend it :)  
lol now that I've bored you with that, please enjoy. Keep in mind I've never done this Type of fiction before, and don't be scared to tell me you hate it ^-^**

**The Eighth Room**

**Chapter 1  
Enter: My Perfect Son**

_If I ever lose myself... Do the wrong things... You'll stop me, won't you?'_

Al paced himself as he walked, taking the time to look out at the river. It was dusk, and the sunset sparkled against the water in serene golden light. It reminded him so much of...  
His hands hurt, they were clenched so tightly. He turned away, only to have the wind blow blond hair into his face. His own hair, but it looked like...  
Al sighed. Days like these, he saw no reason to walk home, eat, sleep, and get up the next morning. Was there any reason to get up the next morning? Four years ago, the only thing that had mattered was...

His brother, Edward.

They did everything, went everywhere together. But after... that night. Things changed... Edward died. They had found nothing but a pool of blood, and a red jacket flung over the rail beside it. A monument in itself, or... one could suppose it was a grave. Perhaps the marker to the grave? It looked purposeful, and God only knew if the one who had done it meant it as a joke.

Al sniffled, and only then realized he was crying. It wasn't anything new, he just didn't like when it came about randomly. Maybe if he hadn't been wallowing in such morbid thoughts, he wouldn't be fighting not to break down on the street. It was cruel, to leave him like that. Sometimes he truly hated his brother for dying. But mostly, he just missed him, and desperately wanted him back.  
Al sighed upon reaching his door. This was routine, what he did everyday. Every morning he woke up and went into the kitchen, made coffee and some breakfast, got dressed, and headed to work.  
work.  
That's right, he was in the military now. The Soul alchemist, ironic, right? He still worked under General Roy Mustang, in his brother's place... It felt as if he was a perminant replacement. But somewhere, where they couldn't see, Ed was there.

And he would come home.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

_Of course I will, brother. I'm always here for you..._

"Yo, O'Chibi-san!"

Pride looked up from his book, hair falling into his dead golden eyes. He stared at Envy for a moment before sighing.  
Why do you call me that?" He asked monotonously. "My name is, and always has been; Pride." He closed his book and stood, smiling innocently. Envy smirked.

"I think the name suits you, Chibi."  
Pride pouted, putting his hands on his hips. "I'm not small, Envy! I'm just... not very vertically inclined." Envy smirked, about to retort, but Pride skipped that one step forward and flung his arms around the other sin's neck, kissing him softly. Envy leaned in, but Pride pulled away, giggling. "O, c'mon, Chibi! That's-

"Excuse me, boys."

They turned, Pride still hanging off Envy's neck, the turn causing his legs to dangle comically as they both stared at Lust blankly.

"Go away."

"We're busy."

Lust smiled, crossing her arms. "Father wants to see you two. Now hurry up, before something... bad happens." And with that, she turned and sauntered out, and Pride, unable to ignore childish urges, stuck his tongue out at her. Envy just smiled and grabbed his legs, carrying him bridal style, making the younge sin blush.

"Envy, I have two perfect legs, i can walk on my own."  
"It's much more fun carrying you."

So they, well, Envy walked down the corridors, down the blue-carpeted halls and to a grand white door. He sighed, and Pride snuggled deeper into his chest. Envy lifted his foot and gently nudged the door open, walking through with Pride still in his arms. Tehy announced their presence with a 'Hn' and a whimper, and Father looked up, smiling.

"Ah, yes. Pride, my perfect son, come here."

Envy released the younger sin, and Pride walked forward gracefully, knealing down, completely submissive. There was no sign of the innocent little boy who had been carried here. Only a loyal servant, at his master's... Father's beck and call.

"Yes, Father?"

The old man smiled softly, and placed his hand on Pride's head, looking up at Envy.

"I have a job for you two."

Envy stood, and he stared, arms crossed and passive. He stared at Pride, who's golden hair was slick with blood. He loosely held a sythe in his right hand, blood dripping down the handle... off the tip. His golden eyes were blank and uncaring, and blood stood out on his skin as vibrant as his ouroboros.  
"Are you ready to leave, Pride?"

He shook his head, turning back to Envy with a confused look.

"He said to kill... everyone who screamed." He turned back to the bloodshed, in which was a small girl, holding her dead mother's hand. She was shaking... and crying, but... "This one didn't scream."  
Pride turned to Envy, who was just staring. "Do I kill her too?"  
Envy looked at him blankly, before lowering his head and sighing. When he looked back up he smirked. "You don't have to Pride... Why don't we go get something sweet, ne?" Pride's dead eyes immediately lit up, and he giggled, once again becoming the innocent little boy.  
"Is Envy paying for Pride?" He asked, looking as cute as possible. Envy blushed, and grinned. "No way, Chibi, you can pay for yourself."

With that, he turned and started walking. Pride looked back at the little girl once more. The human looked up at him, still crying. "M-Mr-?

With a lash of his sythe, the girl lay dead on the floor, Pride watching passivley as her blood mixxed with other's.

"Pride!"

He smiled, turning back and running.

"Coming!"

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

The door closed with a defined click, and Al turned to Mustang. The man stared at him as he walked to the front of his desk and saluted.

"Sir!"

Mustang smiled for a moment, before it faultered, and was turned into a frown. "I'm sorry Al, it seems... we have homonculi in our midst." Al's eyes widened, then hardened. "Sir-

"I know Al. I'm assigning you to this case. Find out who's murdering these people... Find out who would chop up a little girl." Al's eyes widened again, and he gasped. "H-How old was she?"

"Three."

Al brought his hand up to stop the bile. How could someone do that... to a little girl? Before he could think too much about it, Mustang smiled and stood, putting a hand on Al's shoulder.  
"Don't worry, Al. We'll stop this person." Al nodded, and gave a flat smile, before grabbing the assignment folder and turning to leave. As his hand reached up for the door knob, he couldn't help but bite back a sigh. Someone was clearly demented...

He walked along the streets, hugging his jacket close to him. It was freezing, go figure. He was headed toward the house the men were murdered in. Apparently everyone was cut with something... really sharp. There were lacerations everywhere on each victim.

(A/N: Rofl this part was SOOOO hard to write! Mainly because I was listening to Vic Mignogna sing the DBZ them song, and kept getting up to dance and sing/scream along with eht :D)

He stopped, looking. There it was. The house itself wasn't very big, only two stories. But looking up at it, Al could only picture the family that was slaughtered. How heartless and cold did one have to be to... He thought back about what the General had said. Three years old. He truly hope whoever had done this was suffering. Sighing, he stepped up onto the porch, and reached for the handle.

A light flash of Golden claimed his attention.

"...Hey, Al."

**Alright, so elaboration on the title (I'm sure everyone wants to hear this, right? lol) There are eight rooms: Blue-Pride, Purple-Lust, Green-Envy, Orange-Wrath, White-Greed, Violet-Gluttony, and Black-Sloth. The eighth room is Scarlet for Death. The order signifies progression of blue to black, day to night, life and death. The rooms go in this order from east to west, indicating sunrise and sunset, Begining and End, Birth and Death. In the eighth room, the scarlet one, there is a black clock that chimes every hour until midnight, indicating the passage and extinction of time, another means of end/Death. The Prince wants to evade and escape death, so he seals himself inside this hall, and near these rooms, to block out the world. He has brought with him jesters and ladies and beautiful people. He throws a ball one night, and a figure shows up with blood splattered robes and a funeral shroud, along with a mask that greatly ressemble a corpse. The prince grows angry and orders the figure captured, but no one will touch it, allowing it to pass through seven rooms, he stops at the eighth. Outraged, the prince draws his dagger and lunges at the figure, only to have it turn and kill him. The revelers press on, removing the mask only to find there is no face underneath. The figure is assumed to be Red Death itself, and each reveler succumbs to the disease, bleeding from every orphas and opening until they die. The clock chimes 11 times and breaks, indicating Time will no longer passs, and in turn, symbolizing death. After reading the story, these are the conclusions i came to ^-^**

**The reason I chose this story as an allusion is because **

**1. It has a certain poetic smbolism that i couldn't resist**

**2. The overall theme: "And Darkness and Death held illiminitive dominion over them all."**

**3. It IS pretty nifty ;)**

**PLEASE REVIEW! I really needs some feedback T~T**


	2. You Killed Me

**YAY FOR UPDATES! It took forever, but i finally did eht ^-^ if you like this, you should check out my other story Unending Night. It's got some humor elements and even though it's only 3 chappies so far, it's turning out well...  
Well, enjoy ^-^**

**WARNING!: Ed's a douchebag**

**The Eighth Room**

**Chapter 2  
Enter: You killed me**

That voice… no. Not here, where those people were… why? How could-  
"You're as talkative as ever… can't even look your big brother in the face?" The velvet voice was dispassionate and familiar. Slowly, achingly so, Al turned toward the source of the noise. Sure enough, there he stood, Golden hair loose and twirling around him. It was longer now, down to his lower back. Staring at him was a pair of dead golden eyes.

Al shivered. "Ed…" 'Ed' smirked, walking closer. "The one an only… Though I don't go by that name now…"  
"And what do you…" Al couldn't finish his sentence, his mouth was dry. This… this was Ed. His brother was…  
Ed's smirk grew wider. "Pride." With that, Al caught sight of another figure, effectively snapping him out of his stupor. "Envy!" Al watched as the green haired homunculus sauntered over to his brother, wrapping an arm around his waist. Pride smiled and stood on his toes to kiss his fellow sin.

"Hurry, love. We have things to do." Envy spoke into Pride's ear, though Al could hear. Pride nodded and looked at Al.  
"Al... I want to talk to you..." He looked up at Envy. "Alone."

Al just nodded, while Envy pouted and walked off. Pride then turned back to his younger brother.  
"...It's been a long time..." He grinned. Al could only stare. What the hell kind of reunion was this? You meet up with your dead brother during a murder investigation and he starts making out with your worst enemy...

Wait.

"...Why are you here?"  
Pride's grin fell, and he looked... offended? "Well excuse me for visiting!" He spat, turning to pout. Al sighed.  
"No... why are you here, at this house." At this, Pride turned back, smiling.  
"I lost something inside that I need back." He blushed, looking away.

"...Why were you inside there to begin with?" Please no... This couldn't mean-

"I had been assigned here, and i dropped it in the midst of... things." Pride's eyes flashed, and he smiled. Al backed up, and Ed's face became dead serious.

"Are you afraid of me?"

One step back.

"No."

One step forward.

"C'mon, Al. Those people deserved to die... all of them."  
Al stopped, staring at his brother with wide teary eyes. "You mean it was you... who killed that little girl?" Pride's eyes flashed once more, and he went forward so fast, Al couldn't react. In an instance, he was pinned to the side of the house, Ed inches from his face.  
"I had to. Father told me to kill everyone who screamed... wait." He smirked. "That little girl never screamed. She even asked for help before I-

"STOP!" Al cried, jerking away and holding his wrist. Pride stared at him with dead eyes, and sighed, bringing his hand up to place on his waist.  
"Al-

"Don't talk to me..." Al breathed, stumbling away. He turned and leaned against the wall. "You aren't my brother... Ed wouldn't... she was barely three years old..." Al lowered his head, and Pride heard him begin to cry. "She was barely three, and you... you did that."  
Pride made to move forward, uncomfortable with the boy's crying. It was annoying, to say the least. "Alphonse."

Al looked up. Ed never called him that when they were just talking. "What do you want?" He asked the air in front of him. Pride stared at the back of his head.  
"I killed her. It was unimaginably good, the feeling i got with her blood on my hands." He stepped forward, leaning down to breathe in Al's ear. "Her crying sounded so good. It was like the angels themselves were weeping. Oh, the beau-

"STOP IT!" Al covered his ears, and Pride smirked.  
"My my, little brother. You act like it's my fault she's dead."  
"It IS your fault!" He whipped around. Pride merely reached up and held his face, smiling when he flinched.

"She wouldn't be dead if you had saved me... I woudln't be dead... If only you had come when I screamed." Pride tried his best to cry, but settled for letting pain escape through his glazed eyes. Al shook his head.  
"No... It's... That's not true. I-  
"You didn't save me. I wouldn't have let you die. But you let me die, you killed-

"No! It's wasn't my fault! I tried to get to you!" Al pulled away again, almost falling down the steps. "I tried so hard to save you!"  
"But you didn't" Pride said softly, carressing Al's cheek again. "You let me die. You killed me."

It was at these words, Envy's arms wrapped around Pride's waist, and the younger giggled. "Come on, Pride. We have things to do. We musn't keep Wrath waiting, you knwo how he gets." Pride nodded, snuggling into Envy's chest.  
"Of course, love. I was just leaving." He glanced at Al, who's attention was focused soley on the deck beneath him.

The pair turned, and they left, leaving Al to his turmoil.

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"Envy..." Said sin looked over to Pride, who was looking at the floor. "Did you get it?"  
Envy sighed, and nodded. Then, realizing Pride couldn't see this, held up the ring. "Yes, love, i got it." Pride looked up and giggled, hopping over. He took the ring from Envy and slipped it onto his left ring finger.

"Perfect." Pride giggled before looking up at Evny. "I hope you can forgive me for dropping it." He cooed, getting closer. Envy just shivered and backed up, crossing his arms and looking away.  
"Yea, whatever. Just don't drop it again, because I don't feel like looking for it every time we kill someone." Pride nodded, pecking Envy on the cheek before running off. Envy just sighed and smiled.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Roy stared at the sobbing figure on his couch. Al hadn't wanted to be alone, so he had gone to the closest person he knew, who happened to be the General. Now one was curled into a weeping ball, and the other stood awkwardly, not knowing what to do.  
"Al..." Roy began, hoping the other would respond before he had to continue. He had no idea what to do.

"He was there... It was Ed."

Roy's eyes widened. "What? Al... are you sure you weren't just seeing things?"

Al looked up, looking frusterated and hurt. "We talked, Roy. But... He didn't act like Ed. He was the one who-  
Al couldn't finish his sentance. His voice dissapeared along with his breath. His brother... his flesh, his blood...

"Al." Roy began again, this time sure of his words. "You're not saying... that Ed of all people... Murdered that little girl."  
Al souldn't answer. He knew that face, the one Al wore now.

He looked so lonely.

So confused.

**Okay loves ^-^**

**sorry about the ending, it's kindof jumbley. :\**

**I'll try to make things clearer, if that would help :D  
Thanks, babes**

**-Harlequin**


End file.
